Swedish Easter eggs contain slaughter waste

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If gelatin from pigs and crushed insects does not sound appetizing to you, you may want to limit the amount of candy you eat this Easter.

There may be less than attractive ingredients hiding in your candy-packed Easter eggs, reports consumer advice newspaper Råd och Rön.

“Many people are afraid of the additives in food, but when it concerns candy it seems that we aren't at all worried,” Åsa Brugård Konde, nutritionist at the National Food Administration (Livsmedelsverket), told consumer advice newspaper Råd och Rön.

“But when you think about what is inside candy, the ingredients are a much bigger problem than the additives, which are all tested and approved.”

Red raspberry boats and Ferrari cars get their color from dried bugs and other candy contains pig gelatin.

Swedes eat the most candy in the world – 17 kilos per person, per year, according to Råd och Rön. But during Easter, Swedes eat double that amount.

The loose candy that is most popular in Sweden contains around 300-350 kilo calories per hectogram. And Swedes are eating more than ever. It was in the 1980's, when pick-your-own candy was introduced, that Swedes started to consume more candy.

“Normally we say that the things people eat every once in a while doesn't have such a big impact, but if it's too much, like children who eat too much candy, it can be a problem,” said Brugård Konde.

Her advice is to buy the candy that you really like and enjoy it, instead of buying an enormous amount of candy.

She also says you do not have to worry that the pick-your-own candy is unhygienic. The dryness and amount of sugar makes it hard for bacteria or virus to thrive, she said.